Present's Future
by XFH12147
Summary: Tenten was tired of having Neji treat her so coldly, so she decided to cut sparring short and returns home only to fall asleep and get plunged into the future. She wakes up and finds that she's not alone. NejiTenten, NarutoSakura
1. Waking Up to You

**Waking Up to You**

"Tenten get up." Neji ordered not even looking at the exhausted girl leaning against a tree for support. They had meet up about three to four hours earlier and had continuously trained since that point. Tenten was running low of weapons so she had to use hand to hand combat moves which she was at a disadvantage since she was going against Neji Hyuuga, the prodigy that controlled the kekkei genkai the Byakugan.

"We're not done yet." He said plainly not even caring about the condition of his female teammate.

"Damn it, Neji hold on. Just give me a moment to rest." Tenten shouted back as her body slide down to lay more onto the tree. She was tired. Most of her chakra had been used to summon her weapons and to make her movement's faster just to keep up with Neji's. Not to mention that Neji had closed off a few of her chakra holes already. Neji slowly approached her and looked down.

"Get up." He ordered again. All Tenten did was look up and glared at his persistence. She was tired and no matter how much she wanted to help him train for his fight against Naruto tomorrow, she was just too damn tired at the moment to move much of her body.

"Weak." Neji stated before turned to stand in the same spot before he moved toward her. That one word sparked something inside of her. She could feel the anger in her arise and her fist clenched. Tenten slowly got up and moved toward him. Neji didn't move back or do anything, he had a feeling of what she was going to do and didn't care. Tenten raised her fist and was about to strike him when his hand came up and caught the attack. His fingers curled around her fist and held on before moving his face closer.

"Is that all you have?" He whispered before Tenten withdrew her hand back to her side. Her bangs shadowed her eyes but Neji could see the anger that was burning in them, even without the Byakugan.

"HOW DARE YOU?! I'm the one helping you train everyday and this is how you feel. You can train on your own for all I care." Tenten shouted raising her head up sharply as she shouted out her frustration. Then walked right passed him in the direction of her house. Neji continued to stand there unfazed and continued his training on his own.

Tenten kept to a low speed as she continued her way back home. Her strength was mostly used up and her body felt as though it would just stop and drop to the ground any moment but she kept on walking. Her cloths were tattered and dirty and she couldn't wait to change into a new set. She didn't even care about the weapons left behind scattered on the field with her two scrolls carelessly left unwrapped along the grassy floor.

She unlocked the door, took off her shoes and made her way into bed, not caring that the sheets would become covered in the filth and soil she brought in on her cloths. All she needed was some sleep and just some rest to regain some energy. Her eyes closed on contact with the feel of the soft bed beneath her. The covers acted as warmth as she plunged into a world of darkness, with only one thought in her mind.

_Will I always return to bed this way?_

The sunlight was pushing its way through her eye lids which caused her to groan. The warmth she felt was to alluring to leave. Something was against her that was the source of her warmth. On instinct she moved closer and tried to snuggle into it. Must be one of her pillows she thought before something wrapped themselves around her.

Tenten's eyes opened wide as she felt something slither around her waist and looked up to see the chest of someone, not anyone but none other then Neji.

"EHHHH!" She shrieked seeing Neji sleeping in the same bed as her. Quickly raising her arms, she pushed away from him and got onto her feet, only to notice that she was wearing only a long shirt that reached just up to her knees.

Neji groaned at the sudden loud shriek. He was used to getting up early but today was one of those relaxing days for him. He moved to a sitting position on the bed and looked over at Tenten not in complete awareness.

"What is it? Did you have a bad dream?" He asked gently as he slipped out of bed. He was only wearing loose pair of shorts which caused Tenten to tense at the sight of the half naked Hyuuga. Neji made his way over to her and laid a hand on her forehead. "Are you ill?"

Tenten stood still, Neji was taller then she remembered and he looked slightly different. He was more muscular, but not too muscular, just a good balance to put him at his peak in handsomeness.

"No, you're not warm." Neji said answering his own question, but there was a faint red blush across Tenten's face. He took a step back and turned to reach for his black pants that were folded and placed onto a draw at the end of the bed. He slipped then on and took out his white Hyuuga robes. He wrapped the rode around him and moved back to stand in front of her. He took hold one of her wrist and leaned in to give her a quick kiss before exiting the room. Tenten continued to stand in the same spot, shocked at the events that had taken place.

"WHAT JUST HAPPENED?!" She shouted franticly trying to sort out what Neji had done. She ran out of the room to catch him and demand an explanation, not even noticing what she still had on. She ran down the halls and saw him talking to a lady with long dark blue hair who was slightly tall and had a gentle face.

"NEJI I WANT AN EXLPINATION ON WHAT'S GOING ON!" Tenten shouted as both Neji and the lady turn to see where the commotion had com from. The house echoed with her shouts but no one in the household seemed to really care.

"T-Tenten-san." The lady stuttered seeing the shouts. That voice sounded familiar, like someone she knew. Then it hit her, the lady was Hinata, at least she was pretty sure it was Hinata.

"Excuse us Hinata-sama." Neji said and moved over to Tenten who was confused by Hinata's change.

"Alright Neji-niisan." Hinata waved toward Tenten before leaving. Neji took hold of Tenten's wrist and brought her back into his bedroom and closed the door.

"Hey what's going on Neji? Why did Hinata change her type of clothing and grow so tall?" Tenten said pulling her wrist out of Neji's hold.

"I don't see why you're surprised now; you've already spent a whole day with her yesterday and didn't say a thing." Neji said crossing his arms.

"What do you mean?!" She shouted. "I was training with you yesterday to help you prepare for the fight against Naruto."

"That fight was ten years ago Tenten." Neji said raising a brow confused at what Tenten was trying to say.

"WHAT DO YOU MEAN TEN YEARS AGO?!" Tenten shouted causing Neji to wince since he was standing only a few inches away from her.

"Would you please stop shouting?" Neji asked before placing a hand on her cheek.

"Are you sure you're feeling well?" He asked concerned which was very unlike him considering all the years she had known his attitude. Ever since the beginning of the academy days, he was cold and uncaring so the switch in his voice was foreign to her.

"I really don't know." She whispered before he leaned in to give her a simple kiss again.


	2. Irony of Her Actions

**Irony of Her Actions**

Pulling away, Tenten raised her right hand and slapped Neji. It was sort of on instinct the action. Neji barely made a move to yell or stop her action. He was able to tell what she was going to do, but simply ignored it. He did however wince slightly but not because of the pain, it was because she was the one who did it. If she wanted to hurt him, she would punch like in the sparring matches they still had together once in a while but never slap. Realizing what she had done, she apologized. Neji shrugged it off and turned to leave again.

"Change and meet me at the entrance." That was all he said before opening the door, take his leave and close it again. Not even a glance back at her. Tenten didn't know what to make of the situation she was on, and about her behavior. Usually she was more calm not reckless and short tempered. All of these changes were taking its toll on her but to lessen the trouble she knew she was causing Neji, she decided to just play along for now and decide later what was going on. Tenten turned to look for something to wear around the room. There atop the same chest Neji took he pants from, laid a pink long-sleeve top and brown pants. Quickly she changed, leaving what she was wearing on top of a chair and exited his room. The hallways were longer then she seemed to remember but then again she only visited the Hyuuga manner once or twice. It was easy to get lost in a place such as this. When she was close to the point of frustration she saw Hinata exit a room.

"G-good morning Tenten-san." Hinata said nervously, even after all those years she still kept that nervousness and uncertainty in her voice.

"Hinata?" Tenten said questionably still not completely sure that the person standing now in front oh her was the same Hinata she knew.

"Um yes?" Hinata said thinking Tenten was going to ask her a question. Tenten who wonder why Hinata replied in what sounded like a question figured out what she thought and decided she might as well ask where the entrance to the manner was.

"Do you know where the entrance is?"

"Yes, um just turn left after you walk down this hall." Hinata said pointing the direction. Tenten was about to continue walking when Hinata's voice stopped her.

"Um would you like me to walk with you? Neji-niisan says that you may be feeling a little unwell this morning." Hinata said concerned about Tenten's well-being.

"It's alright Hinata, I'm fine. Thank you for your help." She waved before turning back to walk. As instructed she walked down the hall until close to the end before turning left and started to walk. In no time, Tenten saw the entrance and Neji standing silently against the boarder of the doors. He had his usual cold emotionless stare that she knew him for, and was slightly skeptical in getting closer. Either way she knew that he had already felt her presence and the Byakugan had already located where she was no matter if she wanted to hide. Recalling the events before with the slap, Tenten felt as though she should apologize again, it wasn't at all like her.

"Neji…I wanted to-" Before she was able to say it, Neji cut her off rather rudely.

"We're meeting Lee today. Let's go before we're late." Neji started walking, ignoring what Tenten wanted to say to him. He wasn't in the mood to talk especially with her at the moment. Tenten just signed at his actions and followed him along, no matter what time period, she seemed to always be the one to follow him when this part of his personality showed. To some extent she was relieved to see his act like he usually did when they were together. The feeling of him being caring was awkward, maybe not entirely awful but it was, well awkward.

They continued their path in silence, neither of them wanted to speak, Neji not feeling up to talk to her and Tenten uncertain of what to say. This silence continued even as they reached the main part of Konoha that was filled with stores all over. Everything seemed to be in the same place as she remembered, familiar yet foreign still. From the corner of her eyes she saw someone who she thought looked familiar. He sat on one of the stools placed near a table for those to eat at Ichiraku's. He wore an orange and black shirt and orange pants, Naruto. He was the easiest to figure out but there was someone sitting next to him. Taking a guess Tenten decided it was most likely Sakura. However she didn't catch Sasuke, the other member of Kakashi's squad near them.

When they were getting closer to where she remembered as their training grounds, Tenten couldn't take the silence, even Neji was never this silent. He would have made some sort of noise whether it be a word or some sort of sound.

"Neji-" However again Neji cut her off with not even the slightest of care to what she had to say.

"We're late, hurry up." His voice seemed colder then it had been before, somewhat hurt. It was only after hearing those words did Tenten notice that the constant speed she was walking at had slowed down that she was at least two feet away from Neji. Had she subconsciously moved away from him or was it something else, something in the back of her mind that she was terrified of him for the moment. Her thoughts were broken when loud shouted broke what had turned into silence between then.

"TENTEN! It's been a while hasn't it my dear friend." Lee jumped out through the bushes and took Tenten into a tight embrace. Tenten notice that Lee hadn't changed to much either, he was taller like Neji and was wearing something more similar to what Gai-sensei wore. Tenten couldn't help but smile at her teammate's greater alikeness to their sensei.

"I'm so glad that we are able to meet again like this even with our non-stop schedule. I'm just disappointed that Gai-sensei was not able to join us this moment. I had finished my runs early to arrive here before you and left him far behind." Lee's embrace tightened even more if possible around her, this got Neji's attention.

"Lee." He said firmly yet simply. That one word made Lee let go of Tenten but only after he whispered something quickly inter her ear.

"I see he's very possessive over you." Lee smiled and walked away from Tenten to stand in front of Neji.

"I finally can face you off in combat again, I'm very glad to get this chance again to fight my greatest rival." Lee was still excited as ever when he got a chance to face off against Neji. It was something he still looked forward too and trained hard knowing that one day he would eventually beat Neji, but until then to become even stronger in his Taijutsu.

"Not today."

"Aw but why." Tears of disappointment started to leak through Lee's eyes until it came ushering out. Because of the separate missions that the three of them had to carry out, it was hard to find a time when all three of them were able to see each other to catch of things but usually this time was spent with Lee fighting against Neji.

"Look if you called us out here just to fight with me, your wasting my time." Neji explained before turning to take his leave. Tenten noticed the slight frustration he had in his voice. She couldn't help but wonder why.

"Sorry Lee, I think he's just in a mad mood right now. I'll see you another time alright." Tenten said and gave Lee a quick hug and wave before trying to catch up to Neji. She followed to where she thought he would go and ended up in a familiar place. He was standing there in the clearing, tree surrounding the area except a small circular plain of which he stood on.

Coincidence was one thing, but irony was another. This was the same place she had told him that he could train by himself for all that she cared before she left him alone. But there she was, getting into a sparring position with him already in his fighting stance, ready for her assault. And as expected, she launched a barrage of various weapons at her target.

**A/N:** Sorry about the mix up with the years before, thank you to those who pointed that out foe me. Anyways about the time skip, I'm not going to reveal how or why that happened for fanfic purposes.


	3. Sparring Forgiveness

**Sparring Forgiveness**

The weapons were easily deflected with the use of his Hakkesho Kaiten, then took out two of his own kunais and threw them, Tenten easily dodged one but the other nicked her at the upper part of her arm. The cut was barely visible but it had still made a slight cut in her clothing. Tenten knew she had to be more careful before trying another barrage of weapons from her special technique Soushouryu. Neji would have spoken up to tell her that her weapons were useless when used this way against his ultimate defense but was silenced by the piercing pain that shot threw his back. Tenten was able to land a kunai into his back without him being able to detect it.

He knew long ago about his blind spot on one of the joints near his spine but by focusing chakra into it, he was able to sense if any weapon would try to pierce him from that directions. Either that or the chakra he build up to place at the point could easily have knocked the weapon off course and move it into a degree that his Byakugan was able to see. Even though Neji did feel some pain since the kunai had planted itself deep into his back he did not even flinch, ignoring the pain he reached back and pulled the kunai out to see that it was half of a kunai. The design and structure was the same as a regular kunai extra sharp but sliced down from the center. This had to be the reason why he had not sensed its presence getting closer, but he still was not completely confident that the shape was the main reason why it had struck him. Tenten stood on the ground only a few yards away and sensed his feeling of uncertainty. She'd explain later about the weapons and how she was able to come to a hypothesis when she found out about the special weapons hidden in her scroll.

Tenten summoned a long wooden staff and started to run forward toward Neji spinning the wooden staff to get a better feel of her summoned weapon and use the familiarity to her advantage. She moved her hands to swiftly push the staff like a joust and caused Neji to focus chakra into his hand to grab onto the wooden staff to prevent the blow from causing him any damage. However, once his hands touched the wood, he felt his chakra being drained in a way. Tenten saw what her weapons where done and could tell they had been made after countless hours of patients and skill but this had just blown her away. These weapons were precisely made to use against Neji to beat him.

These weapons, was she really that skilled? Or was it something else, did she want to beat Neji that badly? Or maybe it was something simpler, did she want to prove that she was stronger then him, that the reason was as simple as trying to impress him.

Tenten held the staff firmly and tried to swing it around to target his side. If she could somehow injury his side for a moment, his movements would not be at full potential. Thus, giving her a greater chance to strike and cause a more damaging blow. The blow would not place any major damage to his vital organs, but just enough to break through his male pride and convince him to admit surrender to her.

Tenten used the staff and took another shot at his side but it was blocked by Neji's chakra filled palm. Neji was getting tired of having his chakra being drain and concentrated extra chakra into his hand before grabbing the staff and shot a large amount of chakra through. The chakra blasted out of the other end, sending Tenten flying backward who quickly regained balance and took out a kunai quickly to throw it toward Neji. The kunai moved in one motion and slashed Neji's chest. Chakra string was attached to the end of the kunai and with a flick of the wrist, instead of piercing Neji, it slashed him. If Neji had moves back in the right amount of time, his injury would have been more sever.

Growling, Neji held his newly slashed wound. He was getting soft, this had never happened between them before; he used to be able to easily dodge her attempts. Today should have been no different. The only reasons he would have made a mistake is because of his own carelessness with the use of his chakra. Then again there was something different about her, she seemed more determined then ever in winning. He'd have to be more careful.

Tenten knew that his chakra level would be used up soon, his movements were sluggish and his acuteness was weakening, soon she would have him on the ground in a matter of minutes. However she was running low on plans of attack so at the moment they were both equally balanced in who would rise up the winner of this match.

Neji had to conserve what was left of his chakra for one last good attack. Tenten stood her ground and used her scroll to summon the remaining weapons left and as Neji started running toward her, she waited till the time was right and threw them. Knowing that Neji would probably use Kaiten as the defense, she got ready to run forward and use a close combat move to finish him off. But instead of using the Kaiten, Neji took the barrage head on to be stricken by most of them. Tenten was surprised by the move and would have stopped if Neji hadn't appeared right in front of her.

"Jyuuken" With his palm he trusted forward causing the release of his remaining chakra and pushing Tenten back into the truck of a tree. Before Tenten could open her eyes to scan where Neji was, she was being held against the tree. Neji's left hand held her wrist together as her legs were slightly separated by Neji's knees incase she wanted to try and give him a good kick in his lower region. His right hand was on her waist to hold her more securely against the tree trunk.

"I win." Neji said softy into her ear. His grip was tight but it didn't cause any real harm to her wrist. However Tenten really didn't like the position she was placed into. If anyone saw them, it would have looked as though Neji was going to do something that she really didn't want to image him to do, especially to her. They were too young. Well technically, she was too young.

"Neji how did you-" Tenten started but then saw the trail of blood dripping down his left arm and onto the ground. He took the weapon attack head on but at the split second let loose a small amount of chakra to surround his body to set the weapons slightly off course; however that didn't be a few weapons still were able to catch him along the side of his arms. The damage Tenten received from his attack could have been more sever if Neji had not release a little more chakra to block the weapon she had thrown at him. Both of them were sweating and panting for breath, exhausted.

This sparring match was more then just a challenge for each other to test there skills and to find the stronger opponent, it was to make amends. All of the spars they had with each other were to strengthen their bond. This was how Tenten was able to see the true Neji, not the heartless cold Neji he would portray to others to hide his own weakness. In the practices against her, he would open up a little every time.

Shivers were sent down her body as she felt the warmth of Neji's breath trail over her neck. He was leaning more onto her as to pushing her against the tree. His right had was not keeping her in place anymore, it was caressing her stomach was seemed to expose in the position he held her in.

"N-Neji…" Her words trailed off as Neji's mouth kissed a trail along her shoulders, to the collar, up her neck and onto her soft lips. The kiss was different from his previous chaste kisses, this one was more demanding, it would not accept no as an answer.

**A/N:** I know in this chapter when she was sparring against Neji, there was a mix of Tenten's words of the past and future but there is a reason for that. Her mind is really still in the past but she's currently in the future so there is instability between references from the future and past. Also the fight was sort of a way for them to make Neji become on good terms with her again in stead of him doing something to nice. This is just to ease out some uncertainty if there is any.


	4. Confusion in her Head

**A/N:** This chapter is dedicated to Kane-the-Warrior for requesting the NaruSaku couple. This couple gave me an idea for a later event in the fanfic. I decided that there will be NaruSaku evidence here and there in the chapters.

**Confusion in her Head**

His lips continued to kiss her lips hastily as if this was the only thing that would keep him breathing. His hands continued caressing her stomach before it moved up her belly, pushing her shirt up. Then it traveled to her back and started rubbing before he gently trailed his fingers up and down her spine. This action caused Tenten to inhale sharply tensing at his touch.

There was something about Neji that Tenten just couldn't get away from. She knew if her brain was at all functioning, she'd have smacked him again and yelled, but that wasn't what her hands were doing. No, her hands were moving over his shirt, feeling his muscles through the fabric and feeling the warmth that seeped through into her blood. Something moist and sticky to the touch.

It was then that she took her closed eyes away from his to look at the liquid on her finger tips as her eyes opened. The slash she had made on his chest had caused blood to leak out, staining his clothing. Quickly she pushed him off seeing the red fluid on her finger tips.

"Neji-" Tenten started to speak in a surprised manner, however he cut her off.

"It's nothing." Neji looked down, the wound really didn't hurt, and he was too caught up to notice the various wounds on his body drenching his white, now red clothing with blood both dry in a mahogany color, to fresh brilliant red color. "I don't feel-"

It was Tenten's turn to cut him off. She had had enough of him just rudely interrupting her, now it was her turn.

"No you listen here Neji. You can't just manhandle me after sparring and hope that'd I'd just ignore the wounds that are all over you're body. They could get infective or worse. We are going to get them cleaned and bandaged right now." Tenten didn't even wait for his reply as she grabbed his arm as started pulling him out of the training area. On the way through the various shops, they passed by Tsunade's office.

"Hey Neji! What happened? Did you get beat bad by a girl?" Naruto shouted at Tenten and Neji who were passing the office. Sakura, who was standing beside Naruto, saw the new angered expression on Neji's face and started to yell at Naruto's rudeness. That was only after she punched the back of his head.

"Ow Sakura, that hurt." He wined.

"Don't be so rude to them!" Sakura shouted before greeting Tenten and Neji.

"Tenten are you feeling better already? I though-" Naruto had noticed that Tenten seemed to be acting herself and wanted to ask why until Sakura cupped his mouth with her hand.

"Idiot, she may not want to remember." Sakura whispered into his ear sternly. Naruto tried to speak to question her for an explanation as to why but couldn't since her hand was still placed on his mouth. Realizing this, Sakura quickly pulled her hand back to place it beside her as Naruto placed his hands behind his head not even noticing the faint blush that appeared across Sakura's cheeks.

"She seems fine to me." Naruto stated back not sure of what he did wrong.

"We have to leave." Neji said rather abruptly as he tugged Tenten to start walking in which she did. Tenten really couldn't figure out what was with those two. The last time she remembered, Sakura was always near Sasuke. Usually she would scowl and yell at Naruto, but this conversation between then seemed almost…playful. She really had to idea of how to sort that out.

"Yeah see you another time Tenten." Sakura waved with a fake cheerfulness. Tenten just looked back with a confused expression but decided it was better off to leave some questions unanswered. Tenten took one last look back before she saw Naruto and Sakura turn to leave toward Tsunade's office. Neji started to tug her along until they reached the Hyuuga manor. He was about to pull her inside when she protested.

"Wait, I need to go back home and change into a new pair of clothes first. I'll be right back." Tenten pulled away from Neji to turn and walk in the direction of where she knew her house to be in, only to have Neji grab her wrist.

"Neji I'll be right back." Tenten said trying to take her wrist back but Neji held it in a tighter grip which caused her to wince slightly. Seeing that, he released his grip but he still kept his hand on hers.

"You live here." Neji said bluntly. Tenten gave him a confused look.

"What are you talking about?" Using his right hand, the hand that was holding her left hand, Neji raised it which confused Tenten more. That was until she noticed it. Why she hadn't noticed it before shocked her. On her ring finger was a very thin but lovely silver band. On the band was unscripted 'Tenten' and next to that was the Chinese characters that spelled her name which also meant sky. Her eyes widened at the sight. She didn't understand what this meant. Were they…

_Married?_

"WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?" Neji sighed, she was back to yelling again.

"Calm down." Neji really didn't want the whole Hyuuga manner to hear her yelling.

"HOW DO I CALM DOWN? DO YOU MIND EXPLAINING WHY THERE IS A RING ON MY FINGER?!" Tenten was hysterical. She was now what 24 and married already. Did she have children as well that she didn't know about? Before anymore questions could fill Tenten's mind Neji moved it without her knowledge and kissed her. It was a soft kiss but nether the less it that made Tenten just calm down for the moment. Neji moved away, she didn't hit him this time. All she did was stand still under his gaze looking down to avoid staring at him. This day was too much for her to handle.

Neji took a small step closer so that her body was against his and wrapped his arms around her body, pressing her closely against his chest in a possessive yet loving way. He bent his head down slightly to kiss where her shoulders meet the neck. It was a tender spot where Tenten hadn't even realized she could have had. Her eyes instinctively closed and she could feel the remaining tension in her body just release itself out until she had to lean on Neji for support or she would have fallen. His scent was intoxicating and mixed with his warmth was something she would have thought she'd never get a chance to feel. Whenever they'd train, she would either take a long range approach and stay as far as she could so that the Byakugan wouldn't notice her as much and to not be anywhere near his presence, or try a close range approach with a kunai to kunai spar match. This type of spar match ended up with her in a worse condition then if she were farther. Somewhere in the back of her mind, she yearned for his protection.

Her mind became numb from the bliss, she was so tired now. The sparring match they had together had taken out much of her chakra and she didn't know how much she could hold up before sleep would overcome. Her eyes were already close and they seemed locked shut. Finally giving up the struggle to stay awake, she allowed sleep to take her away into the same smoothing-ness that Neji brought her to. Neji stopped his gentle kisses and carried her inside to the bed they were sleeping in this morning.

Naruto and Sakura had reached Tsunade's office and Naruto opened the door for Sakura and him to enter. Tsunade was sitting at her desk with papers piled up and Shizune holding Ton Ton next to the desk. Tsunade was still reading through various sheets and documents of paper before looking up at Naruto and Sakura.

"You finally arrived." Tsunade said. She had sent a messenger to call for them to come a few hours ago and still they had not shown up yet.

"Sorry Tsunade-san, Naruto and I just got a quick bit to eat before walking here." Sakura said apologizing for the tardiness.

"Now that you're here we can discuss the matters at hand." Tsunade said.

"We meet Neji and Tenten on our way here and she seems fine." Naruto explained knowing what Tsunade meant by the 'matters at hand'.

"Naruto you know there was something different with Tenten today." Sakura said thinking that it was unbelievable that Naruto had not noticed the difference in Tenten's behavior, especially when she was with Neji.

"I know already the poison has taken affect, I thought that the antidote I had given her would have destroyed the poison but it only contained it for a short amount of time." Tsunade said, she had stayed up late for three days now trying to figure out a way to destroy or even contain the poison that had forced its way into Tenten for a little longer but there was nothing that could be found yet.

"ISN'T THERE ANYTHING ELSE WE CAN DO? There has to be something to help her!" Naruto shouted. Over the years team Gai and him had become close and he just couldn't take the fact that someone he knew was in pain. Especially since him thought it was his fault, that he was to blame for this that if he'd just done something sooner, tried harder that none of this would have happened.

"All we can do is let Neji help her heal. I'm sorry to say that that is all that we can do for her. But we can find who did this." Tsunade said gripping the pencil she held tighter. "I have a mission for you. Go to the place where Neji had found her and track down the contents of the poison. Be careful."

"Right." Naruto and Sakura said in union.


	5. Intensity of the Moment

**Intensity of the Moment**

"Hey Naruto, do you see anything?" Sakura shouted to Naruto who was running slightly faster ahead of her. They had already left the Konoha Gates a few hours ago and headed in the direction that Tenten had been retrieved from. Two weeks had passed since Tenten was exposed to the poison and it had only now made its way into her blood circulation to various parts of her organs. Tsunade had just been able to find out this much information but there were still some questions unanswered and that could mean a negative affect for Tenten so that had to move fast.

Naruto then spotted something that caught his attention from the ground bellow. He stopped his jumping movement from the trees above to change to a descend to the ground. Sakura saw him leap off of the tree and followed just a few feet behind him.

"Did you find something?" Sakura asked seeing Naruto stare at the ground carefully. Naruto didn't pay attention because he was staring at a small silver tube like case. Sakura asked one more time before she got annoyed at being ignored and snapped. She punched Naruto who in turn hit his head against the tree trunk.

"Sakura?! Why'd you do that for?!" Naruto shouted looking at Sakura with his forehead bleeding from the impact.

"Why didn't you answer me?" Sakura asked before turning to start in the direction Naruto as stared in. Then the silver tube like case caught Sakura's attention and she bend down to pick it up. She examined it for a few moments before her eyes widened.

"Naruto, we have to get this back to Tsunade immediately." Sakura said still looking at the case; her tone was different, more fearful. Naruto noticed that right away, thought he wasn't sure as to why Sakura's tone changed to suddenly.

"Why?" Naruto asked tilting his head slightly which would have made Sakura admit was cute but, this wasn't the type of situation for that type of action. Turning the case to the side that made Sakura concerned, she moved it into Naruto's field of view. Naruto squinted his eyes at first to see what it was and it eyes widened as well. It was no sooner that his expression changed from surprised to anger. Inscribed on the silver tube like case was an image of a snake, one that was usually left behind by Orochimaru to label as one of his doings. Naruto could feel the steady chakra in him increase and the Fox's chakra also burning within. Whenever the subject changed to dealing with Orochimaru, Naruto just felt as though he was going to explode out of anger that he lost his best friend to that demon of a man. Sakura watched orange chakra start to seep out of Naruto slowly before speaking up.

"Naruto-" Her voice was calmer and gentle this time hoping to calm him down a bit. However before Sakura could continue Naruto's voice cut her off. His voice was deeper, not his usual annoying tone, more of the tone when the Nine Tailed Fox is in control.

"Let's go Sakura"

Tenten's eyes started to flutter open as she slowly moved into a sitting position on the soft bed she was placed in. Before her eyes could get used to the darkness of the room, a voice from the shadows caused her body to tense up.

"You're finally awake." She had already sensed his presence nearby but not hidden against the door of the room. Before hearing a click from behind him, Neji moved closer to Tenten until his stood next to the bed she lay on. Looking down to not make eye contact with him, she saw that the clothes she was wearing was different from before. It was a large shirt similar to the one she wore before but in a different color. Neji leaned in closer and took her into a tight embrace as though he were to shield her from the world, that she was only his, and that nothing would come to harm her. Tenten wrapped her arms around his neck knowing unstintingly what he wanted and was happy to oblige. He pulled away only to speak five simple words.

"I was scared you wouldn't." His lips immediately crushed onto her lips before she could reply anything to soften his worry. The impact of his kiss sent them backwards causing Tenten's back to reposition back onto the bed with Neji just barely hovering over her. All of his desire, worry, lust and love feelings seemed to pour into her though his kiss as he licked her bottom lip asking no, begging for permission to enter. Complying with his request, she parted her lips as his tongue slipped into her mouth, tasting. Neji placed all of his weight onto his arms that were on opposite sides of her to keep him from falling on top her, in fear of squashing her and causing her anymore pain from the battles she fought that have yet had enough time to heal. Tenten removed her arms from around his neck to trail her fingertips down and into his loosely thrown on Hyuuga style robe that he usually wore.

Beneath his robe, her hands felt the hardness of his chest due to the long ours of training and sparring they had together over the years. Tenten wanted something more though, she wanted to be closer to Neji, to get as close as she could to him and his robe was one of the barriers that denied her this access. She skillfully removed his rode without the assistance of him and without even breaking the kiss, as though she had done this act many times before. With his robe removed, it was her turn to shed an article of clothing. Neji's left hand traveled lower to the rim of the shirt she was wearing and started pulling it off of her. They separated for a quick moment to pull the shirt of fully before Neji moved down to kiss her neck.

"_Neji_" Tenten couldn't help but moan out his name as the heat on her skin started to intensify and her anticipation for what was going to happen next cause her lower region to painstakingly long for him to hurry up already. Her eyes closed as he moved lower toward her chest, lower toward her stomach, lower to areas that she knew would bring her to complete bliss.

"_Neji_"

"Open you're eyes."

**A/N:** I know I stopped before like the really steamy parts but I'm still debating whether or not I should put in a lemon.


	6. Answers Revealed

**Answers Revealed**

"Wake up" Tenten opened her eyes to see the darkness of the room and the white ceiling above her. Her heart was still at it's rapid pace and it still hadn't slowed even the slightest. Her still felt the heat from his touches. It all felt so real, the reality of it was more then what a dream could create up. Her breath was heavy as she just laid there fore a moment or two before moving into a sitting position of the bed. The clothes she was wearing were the same she had on in the "dream", everything was so similar. The only thing was that she had woken to see Neji sitting in a chair placed beside the bed instead of him standing in the shadows and watching her.

"You're finally awake." Neji said in his usual emotionless tone. Tenten could feel the corners of her lip curve into a smirk, the same words were said before. Could it have really been a dream? Maybe even a fantasy? Or could it even be a..._memory_?

"Neji, what time is it?" Tenten asked finally seeing the rays of light seep through the corners of the blinds that covered the slightly large windows of the room.

"It's five forty in the morning. I have been called to report to Tsunade in five minutes. I need to leave now before I am late." Neji said before getting up from the chair to move toward the door.

"Why didn't you leave earlier?" Tenten knew that it must take at least fifteen minutes to walk or even run from here to Tsunade's office, so why would he wait until he only had five minutes to leave to go? She moved into a sitting position as Neji kept his hand on the door that he would have opened if hadn't heard Tenten's voice. He didn't even bother to turn to make eye contact with her before he spoke. "I just wanted to see you wake up."

With that he left Tenten alone on the bed unsure of what to say. For some reason he seemed, depressed. Well more depressed then she knew he could be. IT took her a while before moving to get out of the bed and change. A new set of cloths were there lying on the foot of the bed. It was a long blue Chinese style dress that looked familiar. Also some brown long pants folded neatly under the dress. After getting dress she moved to the window and opened the shades to allow more light to enter the room. The sun had just started to raise so as more time passed the sky brightened up form before when it was darker and Tenten was able to see the garden that lay just outside the window.

Outside she saw a small brown bird in the shape of what looked like a finch was standing on a low branch of a tree flourished with pink cherry blossoms throughout. Close to the small brown bird she observed another small bird, a white with areas of black bird that also looked like a finch was perched on the same low branch and standing close to the brown one. The only thought was how content those two birds seemed together, so peaceful. Tenten just wanted to reach out and feel the softness of their feathers, just to see if it was as soft as she imaged they'd feel. As if the two birds hear her call they flew off the branch and toward her. The white one landed on the ledge of the window as the brown one landed in her cupped hands. Her gaze at the small brown bird was unmovable. Something in the back of her mind tugged at something, like that feeling you get when you have forgotten something long ago. The bird, something made it feel like it belonged to her. The white one however seemed familiar but it belonged to someone else.

"Ri" Tenten whispered unknowingly. It just seemed so right calling this little brown bird Ri. Hearing that name the bird make a small tweet sound before jumping out of Tenten's hands and both the brown and white birds flew back to the tree that had been perched on previously. Back to being content with each other's presence.

Neji just reached Tsunade's office and opened the door to let himself in to find Naruto and Sakura already there and the room seemed to be in a depressing state. Both Naruto and Sakura looked as though they were in conflict with themselves and Naruto had his fists clenched tightly beside him.

"Neji, it's good that you have finally arrived." Tsunade started trying to suppress as much of the bad news as she could, knowing the kind of reaction Neji would show in any situation that dealt with Tenten. Naruto and Sakura had brought the silver tube like container back to her a few hours ago while Tenten was asleep and she examined the contents inside and was able to tell what side effects would take place when exposed to. Neji stood just a few steps from the desk that Tsunade sat at with her hands together and her lips barely touching her fingers.

Minutes before Tsunade called for a ninja to retrieve Neji, she had just tested the contents in the container to find a full analysis of the effects and it shocked her. Never that she had know of had a poison that acted in such a way that this one was going to act. Tsunade walked back to her office and sat down at her desk as Naruto and Sakura watched her movements awaiting the results. Sakura was about to leave before but Naruto asked her to stay, Sakura really didn't want to hear about the poison, already knowing it was going to be bad news and today she just didn't think she could take anymore bad news. Naruto finally convinced her in staying, that this might be a way to try and understand the situation better and maybe the reasons why a little.

"Naruto, Sakura. You've already seen how the poison is affecting Tenten but I have to explain more. The poison, it is used as a memory eraser were the viruses in the particles when released flow through the blood stream, then head toward the brain where it attacks certain areas that store the most current memories."

"If they attack the memory, why didn't Tenten not who we were on the first day we went to visit her at the hospital?!" Naruto shouted.

"The poison needs time to get through and travel toward the brain; it may have taken longer because when Tenten was found, the flow of blood was slower because of both the cold weather and because we had to revive her from some injuries. Tenten did take in a very large amount so that is probably the reason why she has forgotten so much of her life."

"How can we help her then?" Sakura asked just wanting to know a way to help her friend. Over the years after Sasuke left Konoha, she always saw Tenten around just wanting to learn new things from Tsunade but on free time they would just hand out together and even meet up with Ino when they passed the flower shop. It was sort of a routine for them to just hang out together and they exchanged secretes like when Tenten told her the events that she and Neji shared when they were on a mission together or even sparring. Sakura would also tell Tenten the dumb things Naruto used to do when they were first assigned as a team and they'd laugh so much together.

"There is nothing we can do she has to remember the memories on her own." Tsunade said frustrated that there was an even worse part. But she didn't want to tell them yet without Neji to listen as well.

"Why would Sasuke-kun do this?" Sakura asked more to herself then to Tsunade, but Tsunade heard and thought it was a good time to tell them the reason most fitted to Orochimaru's actions.

"To answer that Sakura, it is that Tenten must have witnessed or found out something that placed her as a threat to Orochimaru and had to have her memory erased. That's the only explanation I can think of."

Naruto could feel his anger start to release the fox's red chakra around his body. This is another friend that is hurt because of Orochimaru. Sakura's gaze moved to the floor, her eyes filled with sadness and frustration of the useless feeling that she knew there was nothing she could do. This was when Neji entered the room knocking Naruto out of his anger, but he still kept his fists clenched.

"Is there anything that can be done to help her?" Neji asked getting strait to the point. He didn't need comforting words that meant nothing to him, he just needed answers and that was all he wanted.

"He's still straight to the point" Tsunade said to herself knowing that Neji was like this. "No. She has to remember them on her own."

"And if she doesn't?"

"Then I'm afraid those memories will never return and she'll have to start over again."

"Who released the poison?"

"Kabuto." With that Neji turned around not saying anymore and walked out of the room. If you hadn't know any better it would have looked like something he would have done those years before, coldly turning away. However when he got to the door and closed it, the door swung closed with a loud slam. Both Naruto and Sakura watched as he leaved before looking at each other, knowing the truth behind his movements. He was hurting, but he was still strong.


	7. Answers Revealed Summary

**Answers Revealed Summary**

I'm getting reviews that it's confusing so here is a summary to clear things up. Tenten is woken up by Neji's voice and thinks that she was dreaming of them doing "it". But then because if felt so realistic that she believes it is a memory instead of just a dream. Then Neji tells her that he was called to Tsunade's office for some reason and leaves. After Neji leaves Tenten is alone in the room and opens the window because the room is still fairly dark and she wants to let in some light. After opening the window she sees two birds perched on a tree branch and watches them. In her mind she wants to reach out because they seem familiar to her. The two birds sense that and fly to her. Then the brown bird jogs up her memory and she calls the bird Ri as if she knew the bird. The birds fly away and you and placed into the scene where Neji has just entered Tsunade's office.

There is a flashback to when Sakura and Naruto have retrieved the silver tube like container that held the poison exposed to Tenten and brought it back for Tsunade to examine. She examines it and tells Sakura and Naruto the effects that she found out about the poison. The poison she explains takes time to travel in the blood to the brain then it causes the brain to forget the more current memories. This is why Tenten did not show signs of the poisons effects after she healed; it was because it need time to travel. Then because Tenten was exposed to the poison for such a long period of time, she forgot a lot more then what was intended.

Naruto and Sakura are feeling upset that they can't do anything to help and that is when Neji entered the office. That was the end of the flashback. Neji asks Tsunade questions more about the poison and Tsunade tells him that if she doesn't remember the memories the poison made her forget, that she may never be able to remember them. Then Neji asks who was the one that exposed the poison to Tenten and Tsunade claims it to be Kabuto. So Neji leaves with rage inside of him. (He's really pissed)

**A/N:** I hope this clears up a little bit of what is confusing; if not send me a message and I'll try to explain it again.


	8. To the White Bird

**To the White Bird**

More frustrated then angered, Neji made his way back toward the Hyuuga manor feeling useless. Memories of that night he found her laying there unmoved against the tree were still vivid in his mind. Blood everywhere, yet only a few bodies were seen to produce it. Only fragments of what used to be a human were found scattered all over, most of them Konoha ANBU ninjas. Their white masks dyed in red blood. It had been an hour since word got to Konoha that the mission was a failure and that many were dead before a search mission was able to be sent out to retrieve anyone who was still alive, the chance of that was very slim from what the report has said. Tsunade had gotten word of Kabuto haven been spotted in that area and an ANBU squad was sent to quickly check it out, Tenten was part of that squad. When the rescuers were sent, Neji rose up and demanded to go and there was little Tsunade could do to stop him so she allowed it.

Apart of him now wished he'd have stayed back so save himself from the sight. Death was something every shinobi got used to over time, but not if it is someone that you have cared for. There's not enough time in the world that could make the lose of a loved one's life not affect you in some way or another. But there she was, just laying there against the tree motionless. This was one of those times that he was thankful for his Byakugan. The sight was something that caused him to just stand there unable to move if his head hadn't knocked himself out of the trance and quickly rushed over to check her pulse. When he found a pulse, relief rushed into him but still there was no time for joyous cheer. She had to get to the hospital, stat. Neji gently picked Tenten's motionless body up and quickly jumped up into the trees and toward Konoha as fast as he could.

It had nearly taken three days after Tsunade's treatments before Tenten awoke in the hospital bed with Neji sitting in a chair beside the hospital bed. Neji had stayed there throughout the time she was placed there, not even budging from the same spot her sat in. If it wasn't for the visits from Sakura, Naruto and Hinata, he most likely wouldn't have eaten either. Sakura assured him that Tenten would be fine, but being the stubborn Hyuuga that he was, he had to stay to be the first one she would see when she'd awake. Naruto even encouraged him to train with him but he declined. Missions that Tsunade called for him to carry out were also refused, much to Tsunade's dislike. He couldn't explain the bust of relief that filled him when her eyes stuttered open and said his name softy.

Now there he was, standing in front of the Hyuuga manor now. He knew that Tenten was still in the room where he last left her and decided it was best for his sake if he had some time alone. Right now he just need to easy out his mind before he could see her again. Walking to the back of the manor to a passage that lead to the training grounds that could be seen through his room's window, he walked and moved to just seat himself against the tree for some rest. Strange how missing one night's rest could cause him to be so tired. Before his eyes could close and sleep could consume him, the white bird that Tenten saw landed on top of his index finger that was resting on his bent knee.

"To" Neji said calling the bird as it stayed silent to its name. (Just to let you know the way you pronounce "To" sounds more like "Tou" like in Otou-san. It has like a Japanese accent in it. Ri is pronounced "Ree")

Neji moved his right free hand to lightly brush To's white feathers. Ri, the brown bird that Tenten had whispered flew down and landed next To watching attention as well. Neji was only happy to oblige. Somehow unknown to him though Tenten was still looking out the window as the birds flew down form the tree branch to Neji. This was something that she had never seen before, this gentleness; it seemed even foreign to her. Something inside her made her want to move in closer, this secure feeling, or maybe even curiosity if it was really the Hyuuga teammate that she knew. (Just a note, her thoughts are at the moment caught between past and forgotten past so keep that in mind)

She made her way through the maze like manor until she found a door that lead to the garden. Neji seemed to be lost in though since he hadn't made any actions of acknowledging her presence. He continued to pet the small brown bird as Tenten slowly moved in closer. It took him until she was merely a foot away and crouched down beside him before he looked away from the two small birds perched on his hand. She reach out to pet To who moved in closer to allow her the privilege. Something about it was so familiar; it was only until the white bird jumped over to land on Tenten's hand, the one that held the ring finger with the silver band around it did something in her sparked.

_Trapped in the cage, he stood there. Unaffected by the outside world as people passed by. It seemed somewhat sad. It was all Tenten could do as she watched from afar at the lone golden cage that hung at the window of the small shop. It was true that the Hidden Mist Village was regaining economically, but in some parts there was still much poverty. The mission to scout out for spies said to have hidden themselves in the Hidden Mist Village was proven as a fraud. It was just two imposters boosting about their plans to attack Konoha as a secrete mission. She had to get back to Konoha now to give in the report to Tsunade; however she wanted to stock up on some supplies before leaving and stumbles across this shop. Walking closer she watched the bird not even glance at her but when she went into the small shop, she could have swore those eyes were placed in her direction. _

"_Excuse me; I was wonder if you would tell me why you placed that white bird all by itself? Also if you wouldn't mind I would like to buy it." Tenten asked an old man who stood there behind a small counter. The old man walked out from behind the counter and looked at Tenten before looking at the bird. _

"_That bird…is not for sale. So lonesome. People in this village, they think that a white bird is bad luck so they don't even try to appreciate how precious it actually is." The old man said before moving over to take the bird cage off of the hook that held it to the window. He then walked back over to Tenten and handed her the cage. She was confused at this action. _

"_Wait you just said this bird isn't for sale." Tenten said but the old man answered before she could ask anything._

"_It isn't for sale. It's a gift. Oh and his name is To." With that the old man walked back passed the counter to a room in the back. Tenten really did not know what to do, so she said thank you, even though the old man was not in the room and heading out to get back to Konoha. Before she left the village though she bout some small seeds that the bird would probably eat and some water. _

_Half way back to Konoha, Tenten made a stop to regain some energy and a quick snack. She placed the bird cage down next to her and unwrapped a lunch box filled with rice balls. Before she eats however, she took out the seeds she bought for the bird and decided to feed the bird before herself. Opening the cage door the white bird just watched as her hand slowly crept in. As if awaiting for the right moment. Once her hand was close enough the white bird bent down really quick and pecked her on the hand that hand a few seeds in the palm. Pulling away from the quick jolt of pain the bird jumped out and took to the skies. All Tenten could do was watch as it flew away. _

"_Damn it." Tenten muttered holding the hand that the white bird pecked. "Now what do I do, I was going to bring that bird back for Neji." _

_Sighing at her incompetence, she decided there was no use crying over spilled milk, or in this sense being outwitted by a bird. She sat down by her lunch and started eating. As she was eating, she got the feeling that something was watching her again, like she could feel the presence of the bird. Tenten looked up to see the white bird perched on a branch watching her eat. She ignored it and continues eating. _

"_Humph, no use in coming back." Tenten said as the bird flew off the branch to land next to her and hopped a little closer to place itself atop Tenten's crossed leg. It stayed there as if it was obedient and innocent, like it was not the one to have pecked her just a few minutes ago. From what Tenten saw, it was as though it was apologizing to her. She couldn't help but smile, the bird was similar to Neji in so many ways. Whenever Neji knew that he had hurt Tenten in anyways, he would also apologize, but not in words, more in actions. Such as he would ask to train with her and he seemed more accepting when she tried other moves to improver her skills more then his._

"Do you remember To?" Neji asked silently.

"Yes." Tenten replies just as softly. But her attention was taken off the bird when she saw the ring on her ring finger. "Neji, I have something to ask you."

Neji just looked toward her and that was enough to tell her that he was listening.

"Who are you to me?"


	9. Ri the Brown Bird

**Ri the Brown Bird**

There was silence; no sounds were made after Tenten asked her question. Somehow the question didn't connect with him at first but when it finally seeped in he just looked at her. He could do two things, tell her everything and go back to living happily with her, but then again. It might be better to let her remember on her own. He took a moment just to think it through; this wasn't just his happiness on the line but hers. This was no time to be selfish and force all of there past just to make her be something that he wanted, no matter how hard it was.

It was true in their Genin days he had been selfish and allowed his stubbornness blinded him from the truth until Naruto caused his eyes to open and see what he had been the truth. Even after that it was really Tenten who stayed by him still, making sure that he was not alone to shrivel back up with his self pity. Even when he found out that his Byakugan did not have a complete 360 degrees visual, she helped him fix that problem. She was the one that gave him the idea to fill up his weak spot with chakra. She trained with him until he was confident that his weak spot was guarded well enough with the chakra. Most of the weapons Tenten aimed at him during there sparring matches were through his blind spot to further enhance his senses to the presence of a treat.

Even after that, on the mission to retrieve Sasuke Uchiha, he stayed behind to fight against Kidomaru and told the others to leave. He knew it was the best and that Naruto would be able to knock some sense into Sasuke. At the end of the fight just before he fell to the ground from his victory, if you were to call it that, Neji though of what Tenten might have said to see her teammate in this condition. He remembered smirking, probably sighing and calling him stupid. That was all he had remembered, besides the feeling of being picked up slowly and place on to someone's back. The person who carried him back he could tell was smaller then him, most likely a female.

He most likely never would have guessed it was Tenten if she hadn't been standing by his bed when he awoke and started yelling at him. Going off about how stupid it was to go off and Lee too and not telling her. That she was part of the team too and deserved an explanation as to why the two of them just left without even a note.

So there he was, just sitting next to her with the brown bird sitting on his finger happily.

"Neji, answer my question." It was more a command then a plea for an answer. Without a second thought he gave her one.

"I can't tell you."

Tenten continued to stare at him, not much in disbelief that he wouldn't tell her, but sadness. She sighed and moved back to lean her back against the tree then closer to him. To was still in her hands still looking at his master. As Neji moved his right hand to pet Ri again, she jumped off his finger and landed next to To on Tenten's hands.

Neji really could help but smirk, even his own bird didn't want to be near him either. It was better this way that she found out on her own, at least that was what he had convinced himself in the few minutes he had sitting there. Again silence filled the garden, not even the birds made a sound feeling the slight tension from their masters. Borg birds stayed together in Tenten's hands and Tenten stared at them as if she was trying to remember her memories. There was even more silence, everything seemed to not want to make a sound, nothing. Not even the sounds of other members of the house talking, no outside sounds of people passing by, absolutely nothing.

"Do you remember her?" Neji asked, his voice seemed lower as if her were whispering. Unsure of what Neji meant she didn't say anything.

"Ri I mean." Neji sensed this and tried to clear things up.

"Not fully." She really didn't remember much about this brown bird besides the fact of her name.

"She was injured the first time we saw her. My Hakkesho Kaiten had sent one of your shurikens into the air and it made contact with the tip of her wing. Though it wasn't severe, it still caused her to be unable to fly. Ri was a young bird back then, To was only slightly older and knew to keep watch incase of danger. Ri fell into my hands and you were guilty that this was because we were the cause of it. It healed back eventually; we kept it in this garden while it practiced flying again. Strange, but after she fully healed, she still didn't leave. To was left here too to make sure that Ri wouldn't be lonely." Neji's eyes changed from grief to somewhat happy. If Tenten looked, he probably was smiling at the memory even. Something else caused this though. It was how Ri got its name.

"Thinking it would never leave, you even came up with a dumb name for it." Neji said which caught Tenten's attention. It wasn't that he said something was dumb, it was that he called Ri's name dumb. However she waited before bursting out at him.

"After seeing To with her, you decided Ri would best fit as a name since they seemed insufferable to each other, so why not have the combination of their names' to mean something as well. Tori. That's what you said." Neji said, this seemed to comfort him more then to answer her question, but the same it did tell Tenten the origin of this brown bird.

"No matter how nice I am to them, they prefer you more." With that Neji got up and started to head toward his room. Tenten looked up from the two birds and watched him leave. Unsure of where he was going, she decided to get up and following him, but before she could take a step, Neji stopped but didn't turn around.

"Stay here." Neji said in a commanding tone. His mood seemed to just switch back to his emotionless self. This caused Tenten to get curious however as to why the sudden change in tone.

"Where are you going?" Tenten asked.

"There's just something I have to do. Stay here." Tenten could see the tension in him as his fist clenched, his whole body language was more serious as he repeated the words 'stay here'. His shoulders were slightly slumped as if he were…frustrated. Before he could continue walking, Tenten placed the birds down quickly but carefully and got up to run after him. She reached her right hand out and grabbed the left sleeve of his white robe to stop him.

"Answer my question." Tenten said calmly but Neji didn't say a word. They stood there for a moment but Tenten could tell that Neji wasn't in the mood for talking. Even if she didn't remember everything about her forgotten memories, that didn't mean that she couldn't still read his body language, the way his movements and energy connected with his mood. That questioning him was not the wisest action to take when he was at this level of frustration.

Time seemed to not affect them as they stood there, not moving an inch. Tenten watched as Neji slowly but surly started to relax from his tension. Before Tenten could even guess what Neji was going to do, he moved his hand up, grabbing her hand and pulled her into a tight hug. His arms wrapped around her body and she was pressed very close to him body. Her hands were flat against his chest as he buried his face into her shoulder. At first she tensed up at the sudden contact but quickly eased that tension out and wiggled her hand from their squashed position on his chest to around his neck. She leaned further into him, placing more of her weight around his neck.

"I'll kill him."

"Hmm?" Tenten turned her head slightly too look at his face but it was pressed so deep into her shoulder and neck that Tenten couldn't identify his expression. It didn't matter that Neji was still taller then Tenten, she still rubbed his back in gentle strokes and let him hold her. When Neji was completely tranquil, he loosened his grip but still held on to her.

"Kabuto. I'll kill him." Neji said and finally let go, or better yet pried himself off of her and left her to stand there. Neji went inside and started packing.

**A/N:** Just a quick note that Tenten doesn't think that she was "magically transported" into the future anymore, she now is more on thinking that the flashback and dreams are her real memories. Also a special thank you to my two friends for looking over this chapter and editing it.


	10. Remembered Memories

**Remembered Memories**

Tenten stood there unmoved from the same spot that Neji left her at. It took a few more second before the name 'Kabuto' processed into her brain. She remembered that he was the one that got knocked back by one of the Sound Village ninjas at the entrance exam. There wasn't much she remembered after that that included him so she wondered what Neji meant by saying that he was going to kill him. Before she could move to walk into the manor to question him about it a sharp pain burst in her head that caused her to fall onto her knees. She placed both of her hands to the side of her head to try and ease the pain out but no use. Closing her eyes as groaning as images started to appear in her head.

A dark figure, was standing just a few feet away from her, he was taller but only slightly. His lips were moving to form words but she couldn't tell what they were. In his right hand held a small tube like container. The images were so dark and blurry that she couldn't differ between the colors, only black outlines of figures and objects. She for feel something sturdy behind her that caused her to not move back, but in a sense she didn't even if she could. She could see a kunai in her hand in an attack position toward the dark figure. She could feel herself tremble as fear started to slowly engulf her.

Before she could react the small tube like container was flicked open and smoke exploded in large amounts in the surrounding area. She could feel herself try to escape to a safer place but her body was not taking the commands and all she could do was stand there inhaling the substance from the container. Tenten could feel herself loosing consciousness. Then everything went black.

Wincing, Tenten cracked an eye open still feeling slight pain but the worse of it had already started to ease out. To and Ri were standing close to her, watching as if they could tell she was in pain and wanted to make sure that she was alright. Removing her hands from the side of her head different ideas of what had happened to her came to realization. Was it Kabuto that had caused her to forget her memories, and why. If he was capable of doing this that what were to happen to Neji if he went out there alone? She made her way into the manor and toward his room, retracing her steps so that she wouldn't get lost just trying to get through the maze of the Hyuuga manor. Finally reaching her destination, she opened the door slowly to find him packing. His white bag was placed on top of the chest at the end of his bed and he was placing various materials that he needed for the mission in. His back was facing her but he could tell that she was there; he didn't even need the help of his Byakugan to tell that it was her standing at the doorway to his room.

A feeling that she could understand was tug at her in the pit of her stomach. She slowly moved closer trying to be as quiet as possible even though she knew that he already sensed her presence in the room. She stopped when she was directly behind him. Leaned onto him and rested her forehead against his back which caused him to stop packing for a brief moment. Neji turned his head slightly and watched her. Tenten closed her eyes and just stood there, taking in the scent of the room, of him.

Both of them didn't know what happened after that. Somehow Neji had turned around and now they were both kissing each other. Tenten's hands were holding onto his shoulders to keep steady as the kiss made her legs numb. Neji's hands were holding on her hips to apply extra support for her and to hold her in place. Slowly Neji guided Tenten to the bed with the help of his Byakugan to ensure that they wouldn't trip on something. He gently placed her down so that he bad was on the bed and he leaned in on top of her still kissing her. That was all that Neji allowed himself to do, he didn't want to force her into anything she might regret later but it seems that Tenten had something else in mind. Her hands were making their way through his Hyuuga style robes feeling their way through.

This was like her dream, well in her memories. His chest felt the same way, hard and warm with very little hair which made her smile in the kiss. It was a matter of moments before his rode came off and was tossed lazily to the floor. Neji's lips moved from her mouth to her neck and trailed kissed to her shoulder as his hands worked to try and remove her shirt but as he did this, realization hit him or what they were about to do and it hit him hard. He pulled back abruptly which caused Tenten to look at him feeling the loss of his warmth around her.

"Neji" She said in a small voice edging him to continue what he was doing. Something about being with him felt so right, she knew that feeling, that warmth. That was something no one could ever forget. Neji was actually very gentle, no matter how cold he seemed or how tough his defense was, he was very kind inside. In a way she knew this ever since she met him back at the academy.

"We shouldn't be…" His gazed looked away from her as his words trailed off not comfortable with saying what he wanted to say. He wanted to be with her, to protect her so badly but he was scared of hurting her with his selfishness. This was the first time in years since he's had this fear. He didn't even care if he died sometimes but loosing Tenten was something that he couldn't withstand no matter how much he would try to block that pain out. Before he could move to get off, Tenten raised her left hand and placed it onto his right arm to stop him from moving away. Neji stopped and looked at her hand, the silver ring shined even though the room didn't have much sunlight shinning through with the closed shades. His eyes stared at the ring lovingly as if remembering were it was from.

"Neji, why do I have this ring?" She asked still softly. His loving expression turned to a troubled on at her question. If he said something then that would be pushing her with his stubbornness, his possessiveness, wouldn't it? Feeling his unease, she moved her right hand up and placed it against Neji's cheek and caresses it. Neji kept still, he was not going to say anything. He would not allow himself to say anything.

"We're engaged." Then he said something. Hearing his own voice form those words he growled at it. No matter how much he tried to deny it, he could never refuse her anything. Neji just wouldn't say no to her and keep to it.

"Will you tell me more?" Tenten whispered, her hand still caressing his cheek. He tried to not say another word but the end result was inevitable.

"I proposed to you before you went on that mission. We were to wed when you returned, but when you returned…Tsunade said to wait till the right moment before having the wedding." He could feel his body tense up with a mix of anger, frustration and sadness which Tenten was easily able to figure out and she stopped caressing his cheek to move up and pulled him down. Neji complied easily and rested his head on her shoulder. His left hand wrapped around her body, not in fear of losing her but to be reminded that she was still there. Tenten's hands moved to his back and did simple strokes on his bare back to calm him. The "heat" of the moment had passed and now it was just a peaceful moment.

They stayed in this position for a few moments. It was only until Tenten removed her hands from his back did Neji look up to see what was wrong. She didn't say anything at first but motioned for him to move up higher so that they would be on the same level. Her hands started to caress his shoulders, chest, and stomach before she said something that even made the heart of a Hyuuga pick up speed.

"Help me remember." Then she moved down slightly and kissed his chest above his heart, she could feel the pulsation as her lips touched heated flesh. His eyes closed, he could feel a sound wanting to escape through his throat but he held back. His mind was on the brink of collapsing, barely able to sort of what should be done and want shouldn't be done yet.

"Tenten…" He didn't even get a chance to finish; Tenten took hold of his face and kissed him. Neji couldn't help but kiss back. She only pulled away one more time to speak to Neji, the words she said caused him to lose complete focus, to lose most of his control.

"Make me remember." With that Neji did what she asked of him. Clothes were carelessly thrown to the side with any doubts or second thoughts still left in either one of their thoughts. Hands caressed over skin, skimming lustfully over what is now the other's. Lips pressing against areas that would be concealed during the day. With one more kiss, Neji positioned himself above Tenten and looked into her eyes giving signal to what his next move was. As approval, Tenten raised her hips up to tell him to proceed. Neji groaned as her flesh came into contact with his lower more sensitive region. The pace of his movements, his thrusts were slower to a point were they were painfully slow until Tenten edged him to go faster. It wasn't too long after Neji thrust quickened did both of them reach the edge of the peak and finally came crashing down in heavy breaths.

Drops of sweat trailed down their body as if it had been a day of non stop sparring, tired and exhausted they moved into a more comfortable position so that Neji's weight would not squash her and repositioned on the bed. Tenten crawled on top of Neji and rested her head on his shoulder and Neji's right arm instinctively wrapped around her waist. Her right hand moved to lay on his stomach drawing circles with the tip of her index finger as she listened to that way his breathing had finally returned to its usual speed. Neji gently rubbed her bare back and closed his eyes as she had also done. Their legs lay entwined with each other. Blissfully ignoring everything else they slept.

_Tenten awoke to knocking sounds against a door. Still exhausted from previous straining on her body she could barely obtain the will power to move out of the bed to the door. Groaning she pushed her body off of the bed and walked over to the door that allowed entrance for visitors. It surprised her even at how fast she actually reached the door considering she was slumped so lower her knees could probably touch the cold wooden floor. She placed her hand on the door knob and turned to be taken back at the sight. _

_There standing at her door was none other then Neji Hyuuga. That bastard that had worked her like a dog and didn't even give her a thanks let a lot a moments rest. But there he stood, in his usual cold demeanor with his hand inside of his pocket and stern face. Tenten was close to shutting the door on his face but she decided to wait for him to say something that she knew would give her a reason to slam the door on his face. She kept a hand on the door awaiting the moment. But he didn't say anything. Both of them stood there for what felt like minutes were just a few seconds before Neji looked away to avoid eye contact and apologized._

"_I'm sorry." It came short and simple but Tenten knew that it took a lot to even get Neji to become close to apologizing to anyone let alone her and she couldn't help but smile. He apologized, it literally meant that he accepted being incorrect and that was something she knew first hand that Neji's pride held him back of. _

_It had been exactly ten minutes all together since she left him on the training field alone. It took two minutes and ten seconds of feeling the absence of his female teammate before he stopped training. It took seven minutes and forty-seven seconds of deliberating with himself to an answer. And it took three seconds to get himself before her house's door. _

_Still smiling at him, Tenten removed her hand from the door. "Thank you Neji" _

"_Do you want to return to spar?" Neji asked looking at her smile, he felt a sense of comfort from it, something he hadn't felt in a long time. _

"_Tomorrow, only if you do this for me though." Tenten said._

"_What?" It really didn't matter what Tenten said, Neji knew he would agree even if it was ridiculous. Taking his arm, Tenten pulled him inside her house and to her room. It was when they reached her room did Neji feel unease, it was only increased when Tenten got into her bed and motioned for him to also get it. Close to refusing he looked at her and the refusal changed to an approval and he got onto the bed, trying to get close but not to close to where Tenten was. Before he knew it, Tenten leaped over pushing him back and she rested her head against his shoulder. Right hand on his stomach and legs entwined with his. _

"_Help me fall asleep." Neji began to gently rub her back through her shirt as Tenten fell asleep to the rhythm of his heat's pulsation. One thought faded in her mind as peaceful sleep consumed her. _

'_I can get used to returning to bed this way.'_


	11. Pursuing Neji

**Pursuing Neji**

Hours passed before Tenten started to come to from her peaceful slumber. Her eyes didn't open just about yet and she nuzzled into the bed seeking more warmth. Her hands moved in search of the warmth that seemed to have vanished. Slowly opening her eyes she looked to the other side of the bed, that last place she saw Neji but it was empty. She moved into a sitting position with only the covers of the bed to shield her body from the cold air that seemed to just flow into the room. The room was empty besides herself.

Her first action of instinct was to look around but he still was no where to be seen. Alone in the room. Then something caught her attention. His bag on the chest, it was missing. Finally her mind placed the information together and built up a conclusion. He left to go after Kabuto. As fast as she could she gather her clothes that were still scattered around from previous actions and ran out of the room. Her first decision was to report this to Tsunade. As she made her way to Tsunade's office Sakura and Naruto were sitting on the side looking through information in book of interviews.

"Tsunade-san he's gone!" Tenten shouted exhausted and trying to catch her breath. She had ran as fast as she could, her mind forming images of dangers that Neji could be facing that very moment.

"It was inevitable. Naruto, Sakura, you have read the sightings. This is your mission. Find Neji and bring him back to Konoha. It is no doubt that Neji has already found out about the sighting as well and is on his way to check them out. I don't care if you have to knock the boy unconscious and drag him back, just do it." Tsunade said, there was annoyance in her voice. She knew that Neji would leave in seek of Kabuto, there was no way of stopping a Hyuuga when his mind was so dead centered on carrying out an action.

"I want to go to." Tenten said as Tsunade looked at her.

"You're in no condition to go." Tsunade said, it was true, if Tenten went who knows what damage it could do to her brain as it tried to heal itself.

"I don't care, he is _my_ fiancé and _my_ responsibility." Tenten emphasizing the 'my's. She was angry too, waking up to an empty bed. The least he could have done is woken her up and told her he would leave but no he had to leave without even a word of his departure.

"Fine then go!" Tsunade said, damn she's not even a Hyuuga yet and she acts just like him. With that last thought Tenten, Naruto and Sakura leave the office. Unknown to them though Kabuto was not to far off watching this. He was spying to see what Konoha's plans were and report back to Orochimaru but he decided to stay longer just for the fun of it. It was already dark and even in clear view no one seemed to see him stand there atop the building.

"Heh so the Hyuuga's after me with his little girlfriend. I can have some fun before I get back" With that Kabuto jumped from his place and disappeared.

"The last sighting of Kabuto was in a small village not far from here. We should go check it out first." Sakura said.

"Tenten, how do you remember that you and Neji are…" Naruto didn't get a chance to finish before Sakura hit him.

"Naruto don't bother her." Sakura shouted at Naruto seeing Tenten's face turn red thinking what they had done when he told her.

"Sakura, I was just curious." Naruto whined, he really wanted to know how Tenten's was doing.

"He told me." Tenten said looking away trying to stop herself and calm down. "But Naruto I have a question for you."

"What is it?"

"Why does Neji hate Kabuto?" Both Sakura and Naruto didn't speak up. The three of them continued to run but Naruto didn't know if he should say anything. He looked over to Sakura who was equally unsure but nodded that Tenten should know the truth.

"We think that it was Kabuto that caused you to forget from that night." Sakura said. As Sakura started to tell her what she, Naruto and Tsunade concluded, Tenten stopped running as another sharp pain took it's toll on her head. The pain was unbearable so much that Naruto and Sakura had to dive in and catch her before she fell to the ground from the tree tops that they were jumping through.

"Ah, urg." Tenten groaned as the pain intensified, it was as though her brain itself was being beat up.

"Tenten!" Both Naruto and Sakura said in union as their friend. Voiced started to go off in Tenten's head. The voice was a males but it was so hard to decipher who's. But the words were so clear.

_"You have overheard too much for your own good. Heh shame that you're here alone without that Hyuuga of yours. I would have liked going against him. You're not much of a challenge, not the one I want to fight. I can kill you now but Hyuuga will come after me, we don't want that do we. Better yet, I'll just have him suffer." _

That voice seemed to slowly fade as something else caught her attention that brought her back from the pain. The sound of flapping wings. Before she knew it To and Ri were beside her. They had seen her leave from the manor and it was as though understanding that something was wrong, they followed her and had finally caught up.

"Are you alright Tenten?" Sakura asked concerned.

"Yes I'm fine. To, Ri what are you doing here?" Tenten asked as the two birds flew onto her left hand and looked at her. As she looked at the two birds, it was as though instinctively she could read them. They were worried not just about her but about Neji as well.

"We should keep going." Sakura said as Tenten got up and held the birds in her right hand now.

"You're right. Let's go." Naruto said and they jumped back into the trees. Instinctively the birds sat down on her right hand and Tenten used her left hand to shield them and add additional support as she jumped up following Sakura and Naruto with her two birds in her hand. They continued their search throughout the night hoping to spot Neji along the way but nothing. Neji had left a few hours before them when Tenten was still asleep dreaming of them in their older days so he had a quick star and with the determination he had there was no stopping him. It took them half an hour before reaching the village that last spotted Kabuto and they split up to ask if they had also seen Neji. Few of the villagers had claimed to see Neji but were unsure. There wasn't much to go on but it would have seemed as though Neji had gone by so that meant he wasn't there anymore. As they were about to leave and head on to another village on that same pathway, To and Ri jumped out of Tenten's hand. Her first reaction was to catching them, thinking they had fallen off but before she could, both To and Ri took flight.

"To! Ri! Where are you…" Before she could finish she knew the answer. The two birds were flying around in the circle, beckoning for her to follow. "Neji, you know where he is don't you."

With that Tenten ran after then as the birds led her out of the village and into the deeper part of the forest. It was worse that it was night and still getting later. There was almost no light beside the full moon that watched over them as they ran.

Miles away where Neji stood, it was the same place that he had found Tenten after the very night of her encounter that caused her to forget. He activated his Byakugan and so to speak scanned the area in search of any leads. Something just didn't seem right. He was certain that night he retrieved her and left with her in his arms there was no container on the floor. His Byakugan would have caught sight of it that night, but he had to take into consideration his worry toward Tenten might have citrated him but still. Heh maybe he was losing his touch with another blind spot.

No, he doesn't trip up, not a Hyuuga, Well not likely that is. Looking around there was still nothing, no traps, no prints, not even a stray weapon laid on the untouched floor. There was barely any impression that anyone had been there, though it had been a few days since that night. He slowly approached the same tree Tenten's body had been leaning against, unconscious. He remembered his first thought, she might be dead but with the little medical routines Sakura taught to everyone, he used his Byakugan and saw that there was still a flow of chakra through her chakra veins, which was a good sign. Neji bent down and touched the still crumpled leaves that were squished and crumpled under her weight and left his hand there.

He could feel anger start to nip at him from the inside but he made himself calm down, now was no time to do something stupid. Rationalizing and planning out a strategy was the best thing to do in any matter of executing an action.

Running footsteps were approaching him; he could both feel and see someone running toward him, Tenten. He quickly got up and turning in the direction she was come from. In time Tenten came running through the darkness and latched onto him. Neji was a little taken back by the action but something in him burning. His fist clenched as Tenten wrapped her arms around his neck and nuzzled into his shoulder.

"Neji I was so worried about you." Neji could feel himself tense up.


	12. That Faithful Night

**That Faithful Night**

Tenten's hands traveled from Neji's back to higher up against his arm to his chest and then to his face. It was night and the cold wind took its part in causing them to see the bitterness of the seasons start to change. Neji could feel the anger surge through his veins. He was frowning, he knew of that. What did Kabuto think? That he was a fool not to see him hidden from beneath, like he had not seen his maniacal gaze watch him scan the area for other evidence.

Did Kabuto really think that his Byakugan would not cause his senses to be aware of his presence, his aurora? In a way Neji wanted to laugh and how easily the disguise that Kabuto wore would not fool him. As Tenten moved in to kiss him, Neji pushed chakra through his palms and used the power his Jyuuken, causing a direct hit into Tenten's stomach. The impact caused blood to be coughed out and some trailed down her lips.

"Do you take me to be a Genin?" Neji's words were harsh, out of control even, very unlike his usual manner. Even placed in any situation he was able to obtain a calm behavior due to the meditation he does routinely to clear his mind. But not at this moment, his tone was similar to a wolf's growl when presented to intruders of his territory.

"Neji what are you doing?" Tenten asked wiping the blood from her mouth, confused at his behavior. Her eyes watched as Neji's lips kept to that frown and the icy gaze he sent back to her. Slowly getting up she walked closer, cautiously this time but still at a steady pace. As she got closer, Neji noticed it and spun around to perform his Hakkesho Kaiten. It caught Tenten in its rotation and pushed her back making her a certain distance from Neji.

"SHOW YOURSELF." Neji snapped at her ready to perform another attack if necessary. Tenten got up and smirked.

"Heh still the same cold-hearted bastard who fought against Naruto huh." With that Tenten was no more. What appeared from where Tenten stood was Kabuto, still looking the same from the Chuunin Exams. He pushed his glasses up with his right hand and smirked at Neji. "I guess you saw through the disguise."

It was true; Neji had easily seen Kabuto change from afar. His Byakugan's range had increased enormously since his Genin days and fighting against that spider Nin of Sasuke's henchman. It was as though Kabuto was taunting him and laughing at him by transforming into Tenten in such short distance before coming out to greet him. Neji would have had to have been a fool not to see through a disguise as pathetic as that, he knew Tenten much better then many would give him credit for. They trained together for countless of hours, all day through all night, sometime not even bothering to eat because they were so focused on not beating the other but to memorize how the other moves, thinks, feels. He was easily able to tell for a fact that Tenten was far from hugging his as the first thing to do when he left without a word.

Now Kabuto would pay for even thinking that he could make a mockery of Tenten, for trying to hurt her and the one that really pissed him off, for trying to fool him with her image.

Tenten continued to follow the birds through the forest, it was still dark and hard to see but she made sure that they were in sight at all times. It had been a while of running and she had to admit she was getting tired. She must have been running for well into an hour but it really didn't matter to her. As long as she would be able to catch up to Neji she would run till she lost all energy and not be able to more an inch.

To and Ri then suddenly stopped their advance to land themselves onto a tree branch. Their heads were turned to face the direction were Tenten saw a clash of blue light. It was best for a slow approach and that's what she did. As she made it through, there on the ground was Kabuto, blood all over. His body and grown pale and his eyes held no life. Easily she could tell he was dead. As her eyes moved from Kabuto's body she saw who it was who stood hovering over the lifeless body. It was Sasuke, but not the Sasuke that she could remember. This was an older version, more maniacal, darker, even so far as to say evil looking.

Tenten was frozen on the stop, eyes widened, unable to move. She wanted to run as something inside her, fear was telling her to move, to get the hell out of here. But her legs wouldn't budge, it was as though they had gone solid and weighted as much as the world. Her body trembled as terror filled every ounce of her body. It was so quiet that Tenten could hear each fastened beat of her heart as it sped up. Memories of that night when she was made to inhale that poison came at her like a wave, mercilessly dragging her into the images that made her body almost break down on the spot. The shadowed figure wasn't Kabuto, **IT WAS SASUKE**.

Tenten was informed by another ANBU with her that Sasuke and Kabuto were stopped headed toward a near by village as coverage. Tenten nodded and told the other member to inform the others that she would arrive at the village first to perform the investigation. After splitting up and she was making her way something caught her attention. Voices, low and quiet but still voices. Being the skilled ninja that she was her first moved was to get as close as possible without the chance of getting caught. She slowed moved in closed using the tree trunks to hide her presence.

"_Sasuke, what are you planning? Orochimaru will be unhappy seeing you make plans of action behind his back like this." Kabuto said in a stern voice, still venomous that Orochimaru enjoyed using Sasuke more. _

"_So what if I am. Are you going to stop me?" Sasuke said, his voice monotone, not much of a care. Her personality had changed since the Genin days. His emotions were better hidden and ignored with not much of a care for anything; even his own life let alone the feelings of others. His last words had evidence of even urging Kabuto to try and stop him. Kabuto's eyes narrowed at the challenge but decided it was not worth his time, nor would he risk going against a pissed Uchiha. _

"_No. Tell me this, what are you planning?" _

"_It has no concern with you. Konoha is something that I will deal with, with my own hands as well as my brother. You'll just be a nescience in what I have planned."_

_Tenten's eyes widened as she overheard their conversation. Sasuke was planning an attack on Konoha?! She had to go back and warn them before it was too late. As she started to take steps backward to slowly sneak away, her foot placed itself over a small twig that broke into two catching the attention of both Sasuke and Kabuto._

"_It seems we have a spy on our hands." Kabuto said and was about to walk closer to give her an example of what he was capable of doing to those who spied on him. Sasuke raised his arm and made him go into a halt. _

"_I'll take care of this." Sasuke said and started walking toward Tenten's direction. She took another step back before turning around and running. In a flash Sasuke disappeared to reappear just a few feet in front of Tenten. _

"_I remember you. You're one of Lee's teammates. The Hyuuga's. (Tenten's Neji's property lol)" Sasuke said, his voice still lacking any emotion. Tenten took a step back but was stopped short when her back hit against the tree. A voice of whom she still couldn't pinpoint came, something in her made it hard for her to tell if it was Sasuke's or Kabuto's. _

"_You have overheard too much for your own good. Heh shame that you're here alone without that Hyuuga of yours. I would have liked going against him. You're not much of a challenge, not the one I want to fight. I can kill you now but Hyuuga will come after me, we don't want that do we. Better yet, I'll just have him suffer." When the voice stopped something, someone came in front oh her and on instinct she closed her eyes awaiting pain that had come. Before she could open her eyes to see why no pain came, smoke filled her surrounding area and it caused her no visibility to what was going on. An outline of a body with his right arm up and holding tube like was seen before it disappeared. The smoke entered her nostrils as much as she tried to cover them and not breathe in the gas. Before long she felt herself losing focus to the sound of movements heading away from her. _

_Trying as hard as she could to stay conscious, her eyes opened and closed going in and out of consciousness when finally she lost the strength to keep them open as something was heading toward her, lifted her up and placed her against a solid warmth. _

"**Get out of the way!"**


	13. Here Yet Gone

**Here Yet Gone**

Time seemed to slow down as Tenten was facing herself with a life and death situation. A blast of blue chakra was heading straight at her and her mind was tell her body to move, to get out of the way but nothing was functioning, her legs were frozen still.

'_Move, I need to move, but I can't_.'

Preparing for impact, Tenten closed her eyes awaiting the pain that would end everything. She kept trying to send signals forcing herself to move but fear just disconnected everything. The only thing still active were her senses and she felt something coming closer to her then growl and a hand grabbed her wrist, then yanked her forcefully from where she was standing. Tenten was pulled out of the chakra's path and against someone's chest.

"Are you ok?" The someone who just saved her said as he pulled away from Tenten and held onto her shoulders in fear that she might not be able to support herself just yet. Tenten looked up to see Naruto with a smile on his face.

"Thank you Naruto." Tenten said pulling away.

"Heh no problem, I'm just glad me and Sakura got here in time." Naruto said and Sakura ran next to him to check on Tenten. There where no wound thankfully. But the time of talk was over when they realized who else was standing there watching them. Both Naruto and Sakura looked up at him not saying anything.

"Sasuke…" Was all that Sakura could say after seeing her ex-teammate since so many years. Naruto was equally shocked at seeing him. It was true then, Sasuke was killing people, Naruto concluded after seeing him try to attack Tenten.

"Wait, where's Neji?" Tenten said remembering that To and Ri had brought here there. She turned frantically trying to scan the area in search of him. She remembered hearing his voice before being saved by Naruto. Tenten saw him leaning against a tree for support and he was holding onto his right arm. She could tell he was in pain since she could see the blood dripping off of his right arm. His right sleeve was drenched of the red substance. On instinct she ran toward him, not even conscious to the threat that was just behind her, the threat that was staring back at Naruto and Sakura. She was just worried about Neji, that's all she could concentrate on.

"Neji you're hurt." She said, her right hand about to touch his but he stopped her.

"Don't. You'll get blood on you."

"Neji" She whispered and lightly placed her hand on his left arm. Neji tensed up at the gentle touch, the pain seemed to evaporate from his arm.

"I couldn't protect you again." Neji mumbled to himself as he hung his head to try and shadow his eyes from the frustration and pain he was feeling. Strong as he was, even some walls can't stand forever.

"SASUKE what are you planning?! TELL ME!" Naruto shouted with his fists clenched ready to lay one on Sasuke's face and maybe knock some sense into the guy.

"An idiot like you wouldn't understand." Sasuke said bluntly.

"WHAT!?" Naruto shouted and had enough, just one good punch should get him talking. Naruto dashed toward him but Sasuke caught his left fish before it made contact with his face and pushed the punch past him. Naruto was about to turn and try again when his neck was in the close range of Sasuke's sword.

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted. The sword's grip was head loosely but Naruto knew better then to try and tempt the blade's swiftness, especially with the tip a mere centimeter away from one of the body's softer spots.

"Are you going to kill me?" Naruto asked, his eyes barring themselves into Sasuke's, in a way as to question Sasuke but also is search for why was going on with him. Sasuke's expression didn't change nor did his posture of the sword. Then suddenly Sasuke withdrew his sword and slid it back into its container and started walking away, his back to Naruto.

"I'd rather not follow through with my brother's insane game." Naruto was about to run after him to question more but smoke surrounded Sasuke as he walked and then had burst up in the region where he was walking and as the smoke cleared, he was gone. Naruto didn't move, his body wouldn't move on command and he just stood there. Tears swelled up demanding for release. Not able to control his body, the tears trailed down his cheek.

A hand went on his shoulder from behind. "It's alright Naruto."

Sakura was behind him, her right hand clenching onto his shoulder, as if to support herself as well. Tears seemed to have control over her body as well and the wet trail of them poured out of her eyes shadowed by the angle of her head. Eyes were shut.

"Neji, I remember now." Tenten said. They seemed to be in another world, unconscious to the events with Naruto, Sakura and Sasuke who were not even too far from them. Neji nodded, a sign that she should keep going.

"Sasuke, his plan. He was saying that he wouldn't tell Kabuto but he did, then they realized I was there. It's important; we have to tell Tsunade immediate, but only her. No one else or it might…it might…Konoha…the si…situa…situation will not work…"

That was all Neji could make out as Tenten started swaying toward him and then collapse against him. It was all of a sudden and the only thing he could do was let go of his bad arm and use the good arm of his to hold Tenten against him for support.

"Hey, Tenten."

"Tenten."

Nothing, eyes widened.

"TENTEN!"


	14. An Ending’s Beginning

**A/N:** I know it's been like so long since I've updated to this story but I lost interest and still can't get really interesting again since it's a straight coupling. More into yaoi and Prince of Tennis to get back into Naruto. Sorry if the way I wrote this ending sounds different from usual since my writing style changes every year. Also I've rewritten the ending from the one I had from the last chapter since I was really unsatisfied. The alternate ending will also be typed up whenever I can remember what I had thought of and if I can get myself to type it. Oh so sorry that its taken me so long to and thank you for all the readers who are still interested in this fanfic, I'll try my best to make it a better ending.

**An Ending's Beginning**

It had been four hours yet Tenten still did not awake from her slumber. She was so close in revealing what Sasuke's true intentions were but the poison took its toll. Neji was the one to bring her in to the infirmary as Sakura and Naruto quickly ran toward Tsunade's office to get her to check Tenten as fast as then could. Tsunade arrived momentary after Neji placed Tenten onto the infirmary's bed. She walking in as Neji grabbed a seat and sat to the left of Tenten, her hand in his gripped tightly as if to try and not lose her hand for any reason.

"Neji it's alright now move aside and let me have a look. Please wait outside." Tsunade said walking over, however Neji was reluctant to let go. Somehow though Tsunade was able to persuade with a great amount of force and pain but persuaded him to leave the room for a moment. Neji left the room silently slightly frustrated with the way he responded when the Hokage kicked him out since usually with due respect he would oblige to the Hokage's orders without hesitation but he really didn't want to leave Tenten's side for a moment even if she was awake. On his way to a seat next to the room Shizune who held Ton Ton walked over to him.

"Don't worry, Tsunade knows what she is doing." Shizune said smiling as Ton Ton make a cute little squeal to agree. Neji smiled at the little animals attempt to cheer him up.

"Thank you."

Half an hour passed by before Neji heard the door to Tenten's room creep open. Those thirty minutes seemed like an endless amount of hours, even days as he waited patiently to hear news of Tenten's condition.

"She is in stable condition, a few nights rest should help. Tenten will probably wake up in a few days. I think you should do the same and get some rest." Tsunade said as she stood in front on Neji. "You don't have to worry, nothing is damaged."

Neji felt something inside him seem to get lighter and he bowed in gratitude. His heart seemed to just relax from its constricted hold and he felt relieved. He quickly got back up and moved from being in front of Tsunade and headed back into Tenten's room hastily to be by her side again.

"Neji, do you need me to take a look at your right arm?" Tsunade asked from the doorway. "I can see that it stopped bleeding but it would be wise if you got it checked out so that the wound does not get infected."

"No, I'm alright."

"Have it your way then it you wake up tomorrow with an infection." Tsunade said little pissed at the tone of Neji voice when he said he was alright. Tsunade though it was a little arrogant of him, she was offering help but he wouldn't take it. Fine be it that, but if he starts moaning about pain she will rub it in his face.

"Hyuugas" She grunted once away from the room, Shizune followed behind.

Two days passed but Tenten didn't stur from her slumber and Neji was on the verge of destroying a whole village out of anger yet he stayed by her side scared that she might awaken when he was away and he wanted to be the first one she saw when she arose. Neji kept hold of her hand the whole time. He wouldn't move and if it weren't for Naruto, Sakura, Lee and Gai-sensei bringing him food and forcing him to eat, he probably wouldn't have even eaten. The only time he really left her side was to use the bathroom since human nature is something no human can deny.

On the morning of the third day Neji couldn't help but fall asleep from exhaustion, staying up two days after a fierce fight finally took its toll on him and unconscious to him, he fell asleep. Neji's head laid upon the bed with only his right hand on top of her left. Later on in the afternoon Naruto and Sakura arrived with a bag full of food, Sakura thought it'd be a good idea to eat with Neji today to see how he was feeling. Sakura could tell he was really concerned and it would be better it Naruto cheered him up, or make it worse and Neji end up hurting Naruto. It would be a good this that they were in the hospital already then.

"Oy Neji we brought lots of food and ramen!" Naruto shouted as he burst into the room. Sakura following after ready to hit him to causing such a commotion. Most of the nurses and patients were staring at the loudmouth. When she caught up to Naruto she gave him a good punch to the back of the head.

"Oww Sakura, what was that for?!" Naruto shouted.

"Loudmouth you're causing attention and what if you woke up other patients here. This is still a hospital you know idiot." Sakura shouted back with anger in her eyes. Naruto took a step back scared of what she might do next.

"Ehh I didn't mean to." This was when Sakura turned her attention way from Naruto and looked over to Neji's usual spot to see him asleep. This was a slight surprise to her since usually Neji was awake and would never let anyone catch him asleep especially when he was looking to innocent holding Tenten's hand with his head atop his left arm completely asleep.

"NEJI WAKE UP IT'S…" Naruto was cut off by Sakura's hand muffling his voice and holding him still as to stop his ruckus.

"Sakura,…let go." He was able to get out through her hand.

"Shut up can't you see he's sleeping. He probably hasn't had a nap since now, its best not to wake him up."

"Won't he be hungry?"

"Sleep is the best thing for someone like him right now.

"Alright, but I still get to eat the ramen right even his share if he doesn't wake up yet right? Right?" Sakura sighed at Naruto's childish antics but agreed.

"If he doesn't wake up then fine, you can have his." Sakura couldn't help but smile, no matter how dumb Naruto acted it still put a smile to her face to see him be able to stay happy and ignorant even in situations like this. As they were about to leave they heard someone start to move as though they were waking up. Sakura and Naruto turned around to see that instead of it being Neji would most likely start yelling at them for the noise and that they might wake Tenten, that it was Tenten who started to move around in the bed and slowly start to open her eyes slowly.

"Hmm" Tenten groaned before moving into a sitting position on the bed and opened her eyes fully. "Huh? Who are you?"

"Tenten you're wake." Sakura said and walked back into the room. Neji started to grumble and opened his eyes to see that Tenten was awake. What woke him wasn't the shouting but because he felt something missing from his right hand since when Tenten sat up her hand moved out of Neji's hand.

"Tenten." He whispered still feeling the side affects of his sleep.

"Who…is that?" Tenten looked at him confused, the room seemed to become completely filled with silence as the three of then looked at Tenten is shock.

**A/N:** Well this is the real ending that I can be satisfied with, I still thing leaving it this way is good but it does seem like I can write a sequel to it but unless I can get back into this pairing it won't happen anytime soon. An alternate happy ending will be done if I can get myself to stop being lazy and write it already but I'm still not completely sure of what I had wanted to end it like since it's been such a long time I don't remember the idea I first had so I have to think of another one. But it will be a happy one for the people who feel unsatisfied with these kinds of endings. Till then thank you for those who continued to read this.


	15. An Ending’s Ending

**A/N:** Well here is the alternate ending I promised for so long. I finally got my bottom on my computer chair and forced myself to finish before I go on vacation.

**An Ending's Ending**

Eyes stared to stir as they slowly opened. Tenten awoke to the frantic eyes of Neji who was by her side saying her name in an attempt to wake her up.

"Tenten you're awake." Sakura said happy that her friend had finally awakened after the days of sleep that condemned her for such a long time. Neji was by her side the whole time and never left. They were in the hospital, Tsunade was there first when they arrived back to Konoha and did a quick check up but everything was fine. Just a little side affect after the poison but it was all better now.

"Hmm, how long have I been asleep?" Tenten asked rubbing her eyes still a little tired.

"Just two days. Heh heh Neji hasn't left your side even for a minute, Tsunade-obaasan even ordered to have him kicked out just to get something to eat."

"Naruto!" Sakura shouted at the idiot.

"I think they need some alone time. Come on." Sakura pulled him out of the room after seeing the killing grow radiate off of Neji which was most likely directed to Naruto. Naruto oblivious to the fact that Neji was angry was confused why Sakura was dragging him away, he wanted to talk to Tenten some more and make fun of Neji.

"Tenten, are you alright?" Neji asked looking at her; he was still sitting on the chair right beside the bed.

"Yes, I'm fine."

"Do you remember anything?"

"Yeah, Neji I need to tell you something. It's about Sasuke. That night I was out and ran into them I over heard Sasuke's plan. He was going to betray Orochimaru and kill him but he didn't want anyone else to know especially Konoha since if there was any evidence that Konoha was going easy on Sasuke then Orochimaru would suspect something and his plan would be ruined. Kabuto had started to become suspicious and Sasuke decided to tell the truth to Kabuto then kill him. But he let me go, he was still scared that his plan might leak out that's why he let out that poison, it was only to make me forget about the conversation between then but I inhaled too much and forgot everything till our Genin days. He never intended on killing me. The poison was a distraction so that Kabuto would think that I was a goner."

Neji looked in disbelief, was this really Sasuke's entire plan to kill Orochimaru? Maybe but maybe not, what if it was a trick to get Konoha to thinking it was true. But then why would Tenten still be alive if Sasuke really meant to kill her. There was no doubt in his mind that Sasuke was strong and if he wanted someone dead it would happen. Neji wasn't sure what to think or believe however in a way it did make sense.

"We have to tell Tsunade-san but only her." Tenten said and tried to get out of bed but the long hours of sleep and rest caused her body to be unfamiliar with the new more active movement and Neji had to help her from not making contact with the floor.

"You're right we should." Neji agreed and was about to help her to the door when someone appeared in front of them.

"Don't worry I heard it all. I guess if Sasuke wants to handle this on his own there's nothing much we can do." Tsunade said as she sighed. "Tenten you should get back into bed, your body hasn't full recovered all its energy from fighting off all the poison just yet. One more days rest should do it. Now get back into bed."

With that Tsunade left the two to be alone again. Neji helped Tenten back into bed like Tsunade ordered and pulled the covers over her. Now that she was awake he was going to leave so that she could get some rest in piece but a hand grabbing onto his Hyuuga style sleeve stopped him form leaving.

"Hmm?" He turned around to see that that hand belonged to Tenten. Neji wasn't sure what she wanted. Smiling she patted the empty spot next to her on the hospital bed. This act caused Neji to smile, unconscious to himself even but he walked to the other side and slowly got into the bed.

Outside the room Tsunade was speaking to Naruto and Sakura.

"What do we do about Sasuke?" Sakura asked.

"Nothing, that boy is the same as Naruto, stubborn and hard headed. Once they have their minds set to something they'll never stop so when Sasuke's read to come back to Konoha, he'll come back. All we can do is wait now. If we interfere we might ruin his plan." Tsunade said not completely happy with the idea but it was better then confronting Sasuke and having Orochimaru loss his trust in Sasuke.

"Damn it, I don't like that idea at all. No not at all. I saw we go in there and give Sasuke a piece of our mind then we can take Orochimaru out." Naruto shouted impatiently, in a way he was relieved that Sasuke was really on their side but the waiting was killing him. After all this time of searching for Sasuke and trying to bring him back they were just going to stop and let him decide when it was ready.

"Naruto calm down, if Tsunade says its best to not interfere lets not for now, but if something happens we'll be there in an instant." Sakura said trying to calm him down.

"But Sakura…urge fine for now. But if anything doesn't seem right I'm going in there."

Back inside Tenten's room Neji was laying on his back on the bed with Tenten next to him. The was slightly small for two people considering it was a singles bed so Tenten's shoulder was slightly layered atop of Neji's. Tenten slowly moved her right hand and placed it under Neji's before squeezing it gently.

"What is it?" Neji asked turning to face her.

"We have a wedding to plan." Neji started to laugh at the random statement that arouse form the silence of the room but smiled and agreed. Two birds perched on the window that allowed sunlight into enter the room turned to fly away together. Their job here was done.

**A/N:** Well here it is finished and posted, but I still like ending that don't seem like ending more even if things are unanswered but I hope this one helps. If not maybe one day I'll get back into this coupling after I start watching them in the Shippuden series whenever I can. Sorry for grammar or spelling mistakes, I still can't seem to find most of them even after proof reading.


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